Cancer control - Cancer Control Strategy and Action Plan

Cancer Control in New Zealand
The New Zealand Cancer Control Strategy and Action Plan

Cancer control is an organised approach to reducing the burden of cancer through prevention; screening and early detection; diagnosis and treatment; support and rehabilitation; palliative care; and data collection and research.

New Zealand has developed the Cancer Control Strategy, which sets principles and goals to guide existing and future actions to control cancer. The key purposes of the Strategy are to:

reduce the incidence and impact of cancer; and
reduce inequalities with respect to cancer.

Following the release of the Strategy in August 2003, the Cancer Control Taskforce was established, to produce the Cancer Control Action Plan, which describes in detail how the objectives of the Strategy will be achieved.

The Cancer Control Action Plan has six overarching goals. The Ministry of Health, district health boards, primary health organisations, nongovernmental organisations and consumer groups all have a role in implementing the Action Plan.

Read more about the work programme to implement the Action Plan

The six goals are:

Goal 1: Reduce the incidence of cancer through primary prevention

The incidence of cancer can be reduced by addressing associated risk factors. Measure to address the risk factors for cancer include:

The Healthy Eating Healthy Action (HEHA) Strategy, released in 2003, aims to improve nutrition, increase physical activity and reduce obesity. Achieving these objectives can help reduce the incidence of several common cancers.
Tobacco is a major preventable cause of cancer. It is responsible for about 25 percent of all cancers and is a significant factor in inequalities with respect to cancer. The Ministry’s document Clearing the Smoke presents a five-year, comprehensive tobacco control programme, which incorporates the internationally recommended strategies of legislation, taxation, health promotion and smoking cessation services.
The Primary Health Care Strategy sets New Zealand’s direction for primary care services to improve and maintain health. Many Primary Health Organisations are working with communities to develop innovative ways to reduce risk factors for diseases such as cancer.

Goal 2: Ensure effective screening and early detection to reduce cancer incidence and mortality

The National Screening Unit (NSU) provides stewardship over the two existing national cancer-screening programmes: the National Cervical Screening Programme (www.nsu.govt.nz) and BreastScreen Aotearoa (www.nsu.govt.nz).

The NSU is also developing advice on whether a colorectal cancer screening (www.nsu.govt.nz) programme should be implemented in New Zealand.

Goal 3: Ensure effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality

The main forms of cancer treatment are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Objectives established by the Action Plan relating to diagnosis and treatment include:

Better understanding the “journey” undertaken by cancer patients, and using this to make improvements
Development of guidance on best practice for cancer referral and treatment
Development of multidisciplinary approaches and regional networks

Read more about the cancer diagnosis and treatment work programme

Goal 4: Improve the quality of life for those with cancer, their family and whanau through support, rehabilitation and palliative care

The Palliative Care Strategy outlines New Zealand’s approach to ensuring quality palliative care services are available for those who need them. Objectives established by the Action Plan include:

Continued improvement in access to essential palliative care services
Ensuring that people with cancer and their family and whanau have access to appropriate support and rehabilitation
Ongoing support and rehabilitation for survivors of child and adolescent cancer

Read more about the palliative care, support and rehabilitation work programme

Goal 5: Improve the delivery of services across the continuum of cancer control, through effective planning, co-ordination and integration of resources and activity, monitoring and evaluation

This goal includes:

1. Development of a co-ordinated national cancer workforce strategy
The Action Plan calls for a stocktake of the cancer control workforce and actions to address specific workforce priorities.
Read more about the cancer workforce work programme

2. Ensuring appropriate programmes and services are accessible to Maori across the cancer control continuum
Maori are about 18% more likely than non-Maori to be diagnosed with cancer, and are almost twice as likely as non-Maori to die of cancer (Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2005). The document Access to Cancer Services for Maori was developed to inform strategies for reducing inequalities with respect to cancer. Reducing inequalities is a focus across the whole cancer control programme.
Read more about the reducing inequalities work programme

3. Ensuring active involvement of consumer representatives across the spectrum of cancer control.
Many consumer and non-governmental groups have been involved in the development of the cancer control strategy and will continue to be involved throughout its implementation. Some of the key non-governmental organisations involved in cancer control are identified on the Cancer Links page.

Goal 6: Improve the effectiveness of cancer control in New Zealand through research and surveillance.

The New Zealand Health Information Service administers the Cancer Registry, which keeps a record of all primary malignant cancers diagnosed in New Zealand (with the exception of squamous cell and basal cell skin cancers).

The Health & Disability Intelligence group in the Ministry of Health has produced the document Cancer in New Zealand: Trends and projections, which summarises statistical models of cancer incidence and mortality, and the Atlas of Cancer Mortality in New Zealand 1994–2000, which shows the recent spatial patterns of cancer mortality in New Zealand.

The Ministry is also developing a research plan in relation to primary prevention of cancer through tobacco control, nutrition, physical activity and obesity reduction.
Read more about the data and research work programme